4 Wheel Disc or just Front?

[Yooper74]

How big a difference between 4 wheel disc and just adding fronts?

33" tires. Street Use.

Worth an extra 800 bucks to go with rears also?

 

[SteveL]

Not much difference on the street. The stock rear drums have a better e-brake than any of the rear disc kits.

 

[sanndmann3]

Front disc 1st then I would add hydro boost before I did rear disc . Really makes a difference.

 

[okie4570]

Agree with both above. It's not worth the extra $$$ to me. Stopping my 71' with front disc hydroboost doesn't feel any different that any other modern vehicle.

 

[DirtDonk]

Only reason I ever had for going rear disc was maintenance. Or more accurately, the ease of maintenance of a disc setup vs a drum. But consistent braking and shedding water more quickly were a close second.

But I was not going to toss out a perfectly good drum setup either, so I waited until I needed to replace the drums as well as the shoes, then went discs.
Haven't run them yet, so can only go by what the others have to say about not feeling any difference in power. But fording a stream was always a sketchy thing if you needed brakes right after crossing. Discs are much better at shedding that problem.

I never really had a problem with consistency because I tinkered with my brakes about every other week! So they were always perfectly adjusted, and stopped well. But those other arguments for discs were strong with me.
So discs all the way for me whenever the drums wear out.

Paul

 

[bronconut73]

Only reason I ever had for going rear disc was maintenance. Or more accurately, the ease of maintenance of a disc setup vs a drum. But consistent braking and shedding water more quickly were a close second.

But I was not going to toss out a perfectly good drum setup either, so I waited until I needed to replace the drums as well as the shoes, then went discs.
Haven't run them yet, so can only go by what the others have to say about not feeling any difference in power. But fording a stream was always a sketchy thing if you needed brakes right after crossing. Discs are much better at shedding that problem.

I never really had a problem with consistency because I tinkered with my brakes about every other week! So they were always perfectly adjusted, and stopped well. But those other arguments for discs were strong with me.
So discs all the way for me whenever the drums wear out.

Paul

What Paul said....
But replace the word water with mud.

 

[Yooper74]

Thanks guys . Great advice

 

[73azbronco]

I had a 2000 Tacoma, front disk only worked great, think they still use only front disk, rear drum.

 

[Nothing Special]

I had 4 wheel disks on mt Bronco. I spent money to change the rears back to drums.

There's certainly no improvement in braking force (in good conditions) with disks. Drums are every bit as good there.

Yes drums suck when first coming out of water or mud. But most of the braking comes from the front anyway. So even though you lose some braking with wet drums, to me at least it wasn't a big factor.

Yes disks are easier to maintain. But that wasn't a big factor for me either.

The kicker for me was a good parking / emergency brake. Rear drums are quite a bit better than rear disks for that.

 

[nvrstuk]

What everybody else said...
I went 4 wheel discs because I am in deep, wet snow often and then when playing in deep soft sand listening to that sand grind around inside the rear (and front) brake drums just kinda makes it easier to run discs. Street only? Discs frt, rears drum- easy decision.

Discs are super easy to maintain compared to drums for most people. E-brake is much easier to operate and they work better with drums.

 

[blubuckaroo]

The rear brakes only do 30% of the stopping.
My reason for keeping rear drums is they take very little maintenance, and I'm not afraid of that maintenance.
I think for those that don't understand brakes, rear discs would be more appropriate.

 

[jckkys]

I'd be surprised if the rears do even 20 percent. The shoes last about 20 yrs.

 

[LargeFarva]

I just wanted a cleaner setup. Speedway motors has a generic disc setup for a 9" Truck for $500, which you can get on Amazon with Free Shipping and 5% back if you have a prime credit card.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Speedway-9-in-Ford-Truck-Rear-End-Disc-Brake-Kit,296887.html

I have 1 side installed and it went on easy. I won't know how well it works for what may be a couple years till i get my bronco done.

 

[taipeichris]

Hi,

Well my two cents is keep the rear drums.

Yes, rear drums aren't as cool as rear disc but I've had bad, bad, bad luck with my parking brake and I've adjusted the snot out of those rear discs.

Problem; drive hard it hard, heat up those discs, park on a hill and my Bronco creeps a good 5 to 10 feet per hour and the hot rear discs get warped too easily when the parking brake is engaged.

NOT COOL. After the discs are warped you get a slight thumping feeling in the pedal, similar to a bicycle rim when not 100% straight.

IF I COULD DO IT AGAIN, front disc, hydro booster and rear drums. Sure, rear drums aren't as easy to replace pads when you do a brake job but if you want an easy car, get a frack'n Prius.

Anyway, good luck with your build!

 

[Steve83]

When properly assembled, LUBRICATED, & maintained, you can't tell the difference in drums & disks from the driver's seat. And drums are really NOT that complicated. They don't even require any tools to dis- & re-assemble, other than the C-clip for the parking brake levers. Read the captions in this photo album:

(phone app link)


This caption explains how to assemble them without tools:

(phone app link)


The NEXT one shows where to apply brake grease.

 

[markw]

I’ll add to the front disc/Hydroboost rear drum vote. Easy and my Bronco stops great with good pedal feel and solid e brake.
The race Bronco has all disc with no boost. Chevy discs front and rear with same pads. E brake worthless. Soft yellow pads make huge difference in performance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[widowmaker77]

What about the explorer rear disk setup? The emergency brake on those are drum shoes inside the rotor. Are the emergency brakes any better in these than other types of rear disks?

 

[markw]

Probably but you really don’t need discs in the rear unless you just want them. Then I’d go explorer.


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[abn373]

I may be in over my head on this statement, but I have Chevy disc front and factory big drums...with a fiberglass body and never a hard top and rarely a soft top, the only weight on the back is the 35 inch spare...I would be concerned about locking up the rear under hard braking with weight transfer to the front and an already light rear. FWIW I have never felt like the back end was going to come round and I essentially am driving a pickup truck. Not sure this scenario fits your case, but I actually want less braking in the rear for that reason. I am sure you could dial either in with an adjustable proportioning valve, but my set up is simple enough for me. Mostly street and light trails.

 

[toddz69]

What about the explorer rear disk setup? The emergency brake on those are drum shoes inside the rotor. Are the emergency brakes any better in these than other types of rear disks?

Yes - they work among the best of the rear disc parking brakes. I've had 3 different types on my truck and they work the best.

Todd Z.